Canada's Private Sector Union

Ottawa – February 20, 2018 – UFCW Canada activists from across the country gathered in Ottawa from February 16 to 18 to participate in the New Democratic Party’s biennial convention. With dozens of activists in attendance, UFCW Canada represented the largest labour union delegation at the NDP event.

The convention focused on how the party can harness bold, progressive ideas to win next year’s federal election under the vision and guidance of new NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, who secured the overwhelming support of delegates during the convention’s leadership review.

Convention-goers also passed several resolutions dedicated to building a better Canada for workers and their families, and voted to advance universal pharmacare, ending pension theft, and pursuing truth and reconciliation with First Nations Peoples as key policy issues in the 2019 Federal Election.

As well, a UFCW-backed resolution calling for worker inclusion in the development of Canada’s National Food Policy was passed unanimously by convention, which included more than 2,000 delegates.

Over the course of three days, activists participated in cutting-edge training exercises and detailed policy conversations, and heard from prominent guest speakers such as Tamika Mallory, Co-Chair of the Women’s March on Washington; Indigenous advocate and musician Ian Campeau; Christiane Taubira, author and former French Minister of Justice; Iain McNicol, General Secretary of the British Labour Party; and Andrea Horwath, Leader of Ontario’s NDP.

In addition, delegates debated how the party can strengthen Canada’s environmental policies and regulations, and endorsed a resolution that would end street checks in communities served by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP).

Delegates also voted for a new NDP Federal Executive, electing Mathieu Vick as President, Thadsha Navaneethan as Vice-President, and Sussanne Skidmore as Federal Treasurer of the party. UFCW Canada National Representative Andrew Mackenzie, meanwhile, was re-appointed as a Labour Representative on the Executive.